OUR LADIES' LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 4152, 17 June 1876, Page 4

OUR LADIES' LETTER.

— :'"'. Paths, April 15. France proceeds .quickly in the matter of the 1878 Universal Exhibition; not only are the opening and closing day-'.fixed but the site is selected, the capital subscribed, and 3,000 applications reoeived for office-bearers, everyone of whom has an original idea for the organisatkto-of the event. The site will be the old one of ttar Champ .dejMars^with ,(& covered way across the Seme to theiMpoi site slopes of the Troeadero, affording thus -srrarea one half greater .than building of 1867, so that,the glass" Wigwam will be as ?*gantio as the wants of the universe claim, plitios. and pride, are not altogether foreign ■ to. holding the exhibition; our brand new Republic, number,three,.wishes to celebrate its coming of.age, and..the inhabitants! in general laudably desire to prove to the world I 'that France is still the "grandnatifln." The principal pretext,;hoW^ ' ever, is to do something exaeptional for trade, as eVery city dealer is convinced that he will retire plant hii r caljbages," or in ether words, make his foirtune by 1879, after fleecing a host of unwitting strangers-r-a f IldMVpMHar ail World's Fairs. One'of the redeeming features connected with the floming fete is the absence of all allusions in the' Press to the '*' peace on earth arid good will toward all men doctrine," so common during, the year 1867. Now-a-days every is. of opinion that if "the lamb and the lion ever .lie down together, it will [.be owing to .thislamb being inside the lion. 'Whatever mayo be. the attractions andisurprises, r jcertainly-in store for/.visitors, the Exhibition will "undoubtedly have for result to send up, rents 30 per cent., with not the slightest prospect of theirever tumbling down again.. This same increase, and the establishment of a "line of steamers" on the Seine are the. .sole souvenirs Parisians possess of their 1867 leviathan fair. Ceuld any Kind of exhibition be organised for showing up the unauthorised increase in the expenses of living of late years; what's tfie goo&of people' and; prices moving to and fro on the earthy if their voyages only act as Bulls do in the case' of the public funds ? Trench, officers are making progress in polo and paper-hunting, and soon they will be able to send a.challenge across the Channel; bear in mind that it is only some fifteen yeira since they established a Derby, and already France haf scored some blue ribbons. .In all these " horsey" sports ladies actively' second tlie braves. The .Cavalry, have..had their annual field day in the Champs Ely sees; on the occasion of i the show ? . a" rmjLitary carousal is given ; accom•plishedriding is put to tests that Myer's or Franconi's circuses could not surpass; lances : are thrown like the Chinese. knife trick, and cardboard heads swept • off by a sabre*- with the expertness of a Tunisian executioner, and to reward th« hordes thes* are fallowed t5 dance execute marches, arid finish up with a Tarn" b'Snanter rush— less bridles and saddles. Not less than 15,000 persons witnessd the military carousal a few days.ago in-the Palais 5 de i'indristrie. Where the. soldiers we, there will,! the* ladies be gathered tomaidens, like moths, tit*, said to be ever caught by glare ;• where Ftwjoh ladles are, there will ba found the latest fashions. .At the carousal, the tribunes—l beg pardon,- the parterres—were *#ws of ducks' Of straw'borinsts, laden with the pick of spring flowers ;,violets competed with pnnrroses, and lilacV seemed jealous of «*ven and daffodils. The pet materials were—first cashmere, then faille, SicUienne, and'velvet; and grey, pearl, sea"; blue, cream, and maroon were the prevailing colors';. Thedominanjt subject of themoment is the t a jupe and the choice of a.color; and what subject more attractive ? It draws at.onee.to,.your side the ladies, and their attention becomes fixed —as their cor- $ ribbon; knot.: .The important inaiter of conversation is the robe, and if gentlemen- now-a-days do not talk chiffbits, it was not the ease with their gallant grandfathers, who read up, in order a dissertation upon a morsel of lace., Fprmeflymen took a marked interest in toilettes, and : Louis XVIII. Cpmtesse du Cayla's she set out for a ball; it was thus on ons'occasion be placed in her hair an anemone ia diamonds that created such a sensaticW f<jj* eight days that even the Bona-' partists forgot: the Kestorktion. The Due d'Orleans-laid downi that her alone was the Eerfect; nobleman, who could; as required, aiidle the'Ms and suitably knot a ribbon fop a'/lady.; Men' pugh't'then to like fashions, because it imparts to ladiesi ajiew yputhfulriws Price a mbn&, arid so if gentlemen con*Pir.e. against tfeQ worfe they do so against their most cherished interests. It is better for a, lady, to be the pbssessor of renewed charms than to be mohotbripusly superb. Among- the . hew stuffsi ; are" damask faille, - shade" upon shade, Indian crapes, and cambrips, and- stripped: Pekius, for later wear. ! Plain faille, brocatelle,' and China cloth hold the first rank in "coinbinatipns," "Jet- struggles to maintain its rank, but there is a -decided inclination for embroidery and color pearls. Some costumes are made up m sea greSh serge, with df faille in four shades of greetr; arid in grey squares deMjpi/andgrey 'faille. Ladies seem' to deck themselves ou't'in flowers from head to foot, and in natural flowers also, the stems of Which are mounted on flexible wire and form garlands, |t is flowers here, flowers there, everywhere —• like Figaro. C«fsageaia/e;but flower baskets, and shoulders emerge from odoriferous shrubberies of rbses and lilac, '-j: During the day a bouquet lnthecomagftß a necessity, and no lady herself all the decorations of the Order of spring. Among, those who, follow the counsel of Guizot, and said to be borrowed from rich "-is M. Halanzier, of the New Opera; ifor his-glittering playhouse France has paid- fifty millions of francs, and continued to pay an annual sttbaidji pf.; onfc ; million. . Hitherto the director has 1 , relied upon the attractions of the building to draw respectable'mobs of .and for'operas the bill furnished only threadbare antiquities, and ;the "cpmpany, with an exeeptipn or two, only thirdrate artistes. "He'.lias jrist brought out a ™ W «A£° rk -" J #? o£ Arc "-expending 250,000fr, on scenery, &c, and the story and the musio are next to dead failures. Every lady has a right to feel aggrieved at the manner in which the Maid's story has been set to song and story, and thai she ought to be called "Do re mi," after her native I village, Dourremy, as proposed. Offenbach leaves for the United States with a body-guard, recalling a setting-out of the Crusaders, and that his. American impressario will be able to estimate by the Tiu 0f 2%™°?s ex P eQ ses. The. composer of the Grand Duchess " talks of making a voyage round the world in order": to personally interpret the music of the "present " He afferfd: tofgo*share and share alike with Verdi, brftthP Italian declined the offer considering it as an indignity to take p'art in such a cpsmopV)lita'ti musical pic-nic. Wacner leave/his "Folly ',' at Bayreuth of all the king's horses and 5 11 fe? s^^'8 m pn, so. autippdeans. are WyP§? not-t© heaiivtbe father of opeiietfe. take. m %P^«p® y&l&m into quartete*., like WmL-io be eotL farted for theWtf the phlTOf - K *; M' ■- - -